Photo Techniques magazine was a print magazine which stated mission was “to provide practicing photographers with useful information and detailed, illustrated techniques for creating exceptional photographs.” The magazine was founded in 1979 under the name “Darkroom Techniques” by Preston Publications.
When the magazine was founded in 1979, the sole focus of the magazine was on traditional film photography. The magazine included black & white photography tutorials, darkroom equipment and supplies reviews, landscape photography and location shooting tutorials, as well as alternative photography processes.
As digital photography began to grow in popularity, the magazine shifted it’s focus to also include digital photography tips, Photoshop tutorials, Digital Camera reviews, and more. The magazine’s website was launched in 1999, in the then nascent World Wide Web.
Unfortunately, like many other print publishers, the sudden, and parabolic rise of the Internet apparently took ‘Photo Techniques’ by surprise. The trouble was compounded by the sudden, and parabolic rise of digital photography. ‘Photo Techniques’ never quite grew out of it’s original core focus of darkroom film photography.
According to a former contributing editor of the Phot0 Techniques Magazine:
For many years now Photo Techniques Magazine has been a survivor simply because its publisher, Tinsley Preston, kept it alive as a labour of love.
I was a Contributing Editor for a number of years… For several years now it has been a product “out of time“, and I don’t mean by that that it was ending. Rather, it was from another era.
Preston Publications is the “assumed name” of Preston Industries, Inc., based on Illinois. While the corporate website (www.prestonpub.com), did not load as of the publishing of this article, the corporate is shown still as “Active” by the Illinois Secretary of State.
